Hill View, our home for the next 5months

It is quite a thing to be woken suddenly in the middle of the night in a strange place by a blood freezing guttural scream that you know has originated from one of your children. Blood pumping, adrenaline awash, hairs standing up all over, defcon 5. Fortunately, just a rare nightmare in a disoriented child. That aside, we all slept so very well!

It has been a day of beginning to unpack and make sense of our surroundings. My previous visit has certainly given us a sense of orientation and confidence here that I am sure has made the whole process so much easier and much more fun. We eventually ventured out to the market and rather than the sense of apprehension / uncertainty that I remember having last time, I felt relaxed and confident wondering around this very different environment; even enjoying acknowledging the attention of all the locals with my pidgin Swahili. To say we stand out here is an understatement! But the attention is very friendly, and the locals are absolutely delighted when they can get the odd word of Swahili out of the chidlers. I loved being able to navigate my way around the market stalls asking the price of things and even trying to barter a little. We got a bag of fresh fruit and veg of a considerably higher quality than you ever see in the UK and for a fraction of the price. An avocado bigger than my hand was about 14p!

Lots of adjusting and settling in to do, but so far I would tentatively say that things seem to be going well.  

Market